Hans Holbein the Younger, Volume 2 (of 2)Chamberlain, Arthur B. (Arthur Bensley)
History
Hans Holbein the Younger, Volume 2 (of 2)
Chamberlain, Arthur B. (Arthur Bensley)
Holbein, Hans, 1497-1543 -- Criticism and interpretation; Painters -- Germany -- Biography
A small, undated bust portrait of Lady Vaux, wife of Thomas, second Lord
Vaux, of Harrowden, the poet, has every appearance of belonging to this
period. There are two versions of it, one in the Prague Gallery (No.
608),[186] and one at Hampton Court (No. 591 (337)).[187] Dr. Ganz
regards both as old copies, but Sir Claude Phillips considers the former
to be the original work by Holbein, and A. von Zahn says that it is
indubitably original, but has suffered so severely and has been so
heavily over-painted that little of Holbein’s handiwork is left. The
Hampton Court version is the better of the two, and is apparently an
excellent copy, though in technique of a somewhat later date.[188] It
has been held, nevertheless, by most English writers to be a genuine but
badly-damaged work of Holbein. The head has been repainted, which gives
it that faded appearance noted by Mr. Wornum[189] and Dr. Waagen,[190]
though the latter attributed it to “the attempt to give the refinements
of the modelling in grey half-tones,” in doing which Holbein “sacrificed
the warm local colours observable in his earlier pictures.” On the other
hand, many of the accessories, such as the gold-and-enamel medallion,
the chain round her neck, the ring, and the cuffs, display a delicacy of
execution not easily attributable to anyone but Holbein. She is
represented to the waist, almost full-face, the body turned slightly to
the spectator’s left, and is dressed in black, with ermine upon the
sleeves, and the customary diamond-shaped hood, edged with pearls, and
with a black fall. She wears a thin black chain round her neck, and at
her breast a circular brooch with a figure of the Virgin enthroned. Her
hands rest in her lap, and in her right she holds a pink. It is on
panel, 1 ft. 3 in. high by 11¼ in. wide. Mr. Law suggests that it is
identical with “The picture of Madame de Vaux, by Holbein,” which was
among the Duke of Buckingham’s pictures sent to be sold at Antwerp,
whence it presumably returned with the “Dutch Gift,” and may, perhaps,
be identified with No. 410 in James I’s catalogue, described as “One of
King Henry VIII’s Queens, holding a gillyflower.”[191] There is a study
for the head among the Windsor drawings,[192] in which the strengthening
lines are exceptionally hard and pronounced, and mar an otherwise fine
drawing. Holbein also painted her husband, though the picture has been
lost, but the very beautiful drawing for it, described in a later
chapter,[193] remains at Windsor. There is a second study of Lord Vaux
by Holbein in the same collection.
Footnote 186:
Woltmann, 243. Reproduced by Ganz, _Holbein_, p. 220.
Footnote 187:
Woltmann, 163. Reproduced by Law, _Royal Gallery of Hampton Court_, p.
212; Ganz, _Holbein_, p. 221.
Footnote 188:
See Ganz, _Holbein_, p. 252.
Footnote 189:
Wornum, p. 411.
Footnote 190:
_Treasures of Art in Great Britain_, vol. ii. p. 361.
Footnote 191:
Law, _Royal Gallery of Hampton Court_, p. 213.
Footnote 192:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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